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Gosh, Brendan, I was completely unaware of the news item you referred to. Given the location of the incident, it’s hard to believe that it can be pure coincidence, but I always thought that the lead time for the Guardian Prize was longer than just a few days. An extra bravo to Paul if this was deliberate.

Brendan and roger, 6d goes along with the incident linked to, and makes pure coincidence seem less likely. Although 6d and 17d are both relatively common crossword solutions.

(Egg on face) Roger already noted the location. Time to retire for the night. 🤣

Was disheartened to see how easy some of you found it. This was a real slog for me, mainly due to oblique parsing, and took around 3x my normal prize time. Several still unparsed, but will wait until fifteensquared comes out next week.

Hi plutocrat
Don’t be disheartened. It was a wavelength thing for me. When I started I thought I might find it a slog, but somehow managed to find both a rhythm and Paul’s wavelength (which I think I share more often than not, unlike some other setters). It remains to be seen how many regulars here shared your experience or on the other hand mine.
Not sure that short comments suggesting that people found it a complete breeze help anyone though 😉

By way of some support plutocrat, I am not finding this at all easy. But Paul puzzles often are what I call a slow burner. You work hard to get a foot hold and then it starts to open out a bit I'm not there yet.

26a is a bit obscure geeker. I had heard of him as one of those figures from US culture but had no idea what he did.

Hi geeker
The solution to 17d is certainly common enough in crosswordland, but of course it’s the (very amusing) clue rather than the solution that, together with the solution to 6d, suggests that Paul had the news item in mind. I would add that the placing of the two solutions in the grid seems to me to reinforce that suspicion.

Also found it challenging. Didn’t know 26a but the title of his most famous work is, I think, very well known.

I think 23a works as an agent noun, in the same sense that you might describe putty as a filler or glue as a sticker.

As a child, I always wanted the 11a.

[ I see that the pdfs for Everyman and Gemelo are already findable should you wish. I’ve printed them, having given up on online access, but think I’ll wait to Sunday before solving. ]

Absolutely Jono. The title has been used as a phrase in response to questionable behaviour in many a comedy show over the years. Likewise I didn't know he was the author.